He goes by many names — Brian Curtis, Maestro Curtis, Maestro Brian, Stro-Ra. In all of his incarnations, the San Francisco vocalist/composer/multi-instrumentalist/producer creates music that makes a powerfully positive impact.

“Everything in life is musical to me,” said the man more commonly known simply as Maestro. “I think in terms of music, sound and vibration. That’s how I relate to everything.”

On Friday night at Angelica’s Bistro in Redwood City, Maestro Curtis & The Jazz Hieroglyphics will present their music release celebration and holiday ball. The event will be hosted by KCSM Jazz 91.1.’s Clifford Brown Jr. and features The E Family’s Juan Escovedo.

Maestro explained the concept behind Jazz Hieroglyphics. “This group was a fraternity that I created, because I saw how everyone was just a hired gun. I was trying to figure out a way we could continue to play with each other, have our connection, but still be able to do our own thing. We can all help each other with each other’s projects, as well as come back to the mother group.”

New members float in continually.

“That builds our network and we’ve got a broader scope of how we’re able to communicate musically.”

The Angelica’s show marks the release of four new albums, three by Jazz Hieroglyphics. “‘Tis The Season” offers original arrangements of classic Christmas tunes, as well as instantly memorable new numbers, such as “Jingle Bell Funk.”

Also being celebrated is a Jazz Hieroglyphics 20th Anniversary album, which charts the group’s history and growth.

The third album is by Royal J. Priesthood, which Maestro co-wrote, arranged and produced. Maestro said, “He has an amazing baritone voice, something you haven’t heard in a long time, because everyone seems to be trying to sing like a female out there. There are no Barry Whites, no Lou Rawls. The quality of his voice really struck me, as did his ideas.”

Finally, the audience will be introduced to Maestro’s alter ego, Stro-Ra, and the “Jazz on Jupiter” album.

“Stro-Ra is getting ready to become a play, based on the album. The character is based upon a Green Lantern kind of a character, who comes to help save the planet from itself, because darkness has now taken over. He’s a luminary, brought here to bring light to the planet through music. His choice of weapon is music.

“It’s Thelonious Monk meets Sun-Ra meets Earth Wind & Fire meets George Clinton. My mission is to bring fun back to jazz. Jazz has taken a left turn, because it’s been intellectualized. The younger generation, they don’t even get it. The original jazz music that came on the scene was the kind of music you could dance to.”

In addition to performing with many top contemporary artists, Maestro has played with the Count Basie and Duke Ellington orchestras. “I learned from all those old cats. One of the things I experienced with them was that the music was fun. We played music that felt good and that anyone could relate to and dance to. It went back to the Big Band era. It strayed so far with the emergence of bop, hard bop and pre-bop, when they were analyzing the music so much, seeing how far they could stretch and take it in different directions. But it doesn’t have to be elitist. Why can’t we bring that original purpose of the music back? That’s where my head is.”

Maestro comes from a musical family. His mother, Lucille, was a jazz/gospel singer. Her twin brother, Cy Emile Wong, was a singer/songwriter who recorded for Nat King Cole’s label. “We were the black Chinese, growing up in Louisiana,” Maestro said, with a chuckle.

He studied piano, flute, guitar and other instruments. “If you hand me an instrument, give me a couple of days, and I can play it.”

On scholarship, he earned degrees at Grambling State University, where he later taught.

Maestro has amassed three bachelor’s degrees, two masters and a doctorate. He’s not finished.

“I’m going back to school. I intend to get four or five more Ph.Ds. I’m a lifelong learning agent. I believe that, as long as we live on this planet, learning is part of our process, just as I believe that every being on this planet is supposed to be musical. Every person — and it’s never too late, I don’t care how old you are — should be musical, because it’s such an integral part of our existence that, to not have that, there’s a certain void that takes place. It’s a travesty to not explore that aspect of your spirituality.”

Maestro learned about the healing nature of music 28 years ago, when a friend asked him to help out with a culture/recreation program at a health center. As Maestro waited for the director, he played the piano. A man entered, sat beside him, chatted about his own musical experiences. Nurses peeked in, pointing. Then the director entered, pulled Maestro aside and told him he had been interacting with an Alzheimer’s patient.

“She said, ‘This man hasn’t talked in 18 years.’ That was an epiphany. I went into tears. His family came and he introduced them to his new friend Maestro and started playing the piano. This man had, basically been a robot, withdrawn. That’s when I knew that there was a much higher calling in the music than met the eye. So I began to journey into other areas — mysticism, sound healing. I studied the mathematics behind the music and how that could be applied as sound alchemy.” Maestro created one of first comprehensive music therapy programs for Alzheimer’s.

Hearing that Earth Wind & Fire founder Maurice White was looking for a new act, one of Maestro’s fraternity brothers handed White a demo and Maestro became a protégé, signing with White’s Calimba Records. This resulted in Maestro’s Grammy-nominated Xpression group.

Jazz Hieroglyphics and other artists record for Maestro’s own JazzyBoo Records. Of his many musical personae, he said, “I call it ‘Pan Jazzery.’ Throw all of the different styles in the pan and what comes out, comes out.”

Maestro turns 55 in December, but looks years younger. Happy in his fourth marriage, he has five young children, ages one to seven. “I want to convey to them how vital music and sound is. They’re my new protégés, as well as my laboratory,” Maestro said, laughing.

Having co-authored the book “The Art of Producing,” Maestro still enjoys teaching, which he does privately and at Globe Institute and African-American Arts & Cultural Center. He said he gains insight from his students. “My whole aim is to put the information out there, so I can learn something from you.”

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